[forbiddenvoid]

Adobe did not buy Figma at a 50x multiple because it thinks Figma is worth that much. It bought the company at 50x because it was a number Figma's board couldn't say no to, and removes their stiffest competition in a quarter century in the process.

[tough]

Maybe they should have stayed put and let them grow further? What's stopping now a Figma-like, possibly COSS app to emerge? Penpot might not be it, but something new?

[jmathai]

Adobe's market cap is $150bln. At some point, if Figma continued to grow then they might not have been able to make an attractive offer.

That's a problem they felt was worth $20bln to avoid.

[sieabahlpark]

Nothing but the cost, marketing, and effort to rebuild yet another design app.

"Why would I use that when I can get figma, XD, or zeplin"

[petra]

Collaboration software have network effects.